Latest Area News Headlines

WORTHINGTON – A Worthington man is facing two felony burglary charges and a gross misdemeanor for contributing to the delinquency of a minor after an incident that occurred over the weekend.

Anthony Promvongsa, age 19, is charged with first-degree attempted burglary and aiding and abetting first-degree burglary, according to documents filed in Nobles County District Court.

The criminal complaint states authorities were alerted to an attempted burglary at approximately 4:27 a.m. Sunday morning by a woman on Minnesota Drive, who said she knew the suspects Promvongsa and a 13-...

WORTHINGTON – A group of residents of District 518 are promoting the school referendum in the upcoming November general election and will be hosting a meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 22 in the Worthington High School cafeteria.

The organization will be working to promote the continual opportunities offered to students of the district through the excess operating referendum and to avoid potential budget reductions in the near future. The group says the referendum is extremely important to the continued operations of the Worthington School District and the education of the...

LUVERNE – The Madison, South Dakota man accused of vehicular homicide in the death of Steen woman Andrea Boeve made a brief appearance in Rock County District Court Monday with his public defender Virginia Barron.

Christopher Weber, age 25, pleaded not guilty to both the felony and gross misdemeanor vehicular homicide or operation and requested a jury trial.

Weber was charged after the incident involving his pickup and Boeve’s bicycle June 30 near Steen. The criminal complaint states that upon questioning, Weber allegedly admitted he was looking at his cell phone to do some...

ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa - The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced low-interest federal disaster loans are being made available to residents and business owners in several northwest Iowa counties affected by severe weather and flooding recently. The loans are also available to those in several affected counties in southwest Minnesota and parts of South Dakota.

The loans are being made available to residents in the primary counties of Lyon and Sioux, and contiguous counties of Cherokee, O'Brien, Osceola and Plymouth in Iowa. It also includes neighboring Minnesota counties of...

WORTHINGTON — Six of Worthington Public Utilities’ seven wells at the Lake Bella Wellfield lost ground in the last week, dropping in water levels anywhere from 1 inch to 1 foot, 3 inches.

General Manager Scott Hain said Well 26, the one used to gauge the city’s water supply, dropped 7 inches in the past seven days, and as a result, the ban on non-essential watering will remain in place within the city of Worthington. This means city residents are not allowed to water their lawns or gardens, or wash their vehicles in their yard. The ban is being enforced and violators should be...

WORTHINGTON – The City of Worthington Engineering Department has been busy this week, completing two projects while working on another. Turf restoration on the Nobles Street water and sewer reconstruction project from Minnesota 60 to Orchard Road was completed Wednesday, as was the drainage structure work on the concrete walkway project at Lake Street and Seventh Avenue.

Work continues along Lake Street and Lake Avenue from near Seventh Avenue to East of May Street.

Water main reconstruction began Tuesday at the intersection of Omaha Avenue and Dover Street, with work...

FULDA – The city of Fulda will have a water shut-down from 8 a.m. to noon today for water tower maintenance. Residents may have cloudy water when service resumes.

WORTHINGTON – Gov. Mark Dayton Wednesday requested that President Barack Obama declare a major disaster in Minnesota as a result of heavy rainstorms and flooding that began June 11. In a letter to the president, Dayton described widespread flood damage across Minnesota, and noted that he has expanded the state’s peacetime state of emergency to include 16 additional counties – bringing the total counties impacted to 51....

WORTHINGTON – Gov. Mark Dayton Wednesday requested that President Barack Obama declare a major disaster in Minnesota as a result of heavy rainstorms and flooding that began June 11. In a letter to the president, Dayton described widespread flood damage across Minnesota, and noted that he has expanded the state’s peacetime state of emergency to include 16 additional counties – bringing the total counties impacted to 51.

To date, $10.8 million in eligible damages have been documented through preliminary damage assessments in several counties, including Jackson, Murray, Nobles,...

WORTHINGTON – The Nobles County Commissioners on Tuesday approved a request from Sheriff Kent Wilkening to hire Chris Dybevick as the new Chief Deputy, replacing the recently retired Chris Heinrichs. Dybevick is currently the captain of the Worthington Police Department, where he has served for the past 27 years.

Wilkening is anticipating a start date of August 7 for Dybevick. According to the request Wilkening submitted to the board, he feels Dybevick has the supervisory and leadership experience needed to assist the sheriff in running the office. There would be no financial...

WORTHINGTON – After a lot of years dressed in blue Worthington Police Captain Chris Dybevick will soon be switching to brown. The Nobles County Commissioners today approved a request from Nobles County Sheriff Kent Wilkening to replace the recently retired Chris Heinrichs with Dybevick, hiring him away from the police department after 27 years with WPD and over to the sheriff’s office in the position of chief deputy.

According to the request Wilkening submitted to the board, he feels Dybevick has the supervisory and leadership experience needed to assist the sheriff in running the...